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India finish third best CWG show with 66 medals in Gold Coast

Posted on Monday, April 16, 2018 by Jody Gill

India finish third best CWG show with 66 medals in Gold Coast

Did you watch the match?

Saina Nehwal made up for her disappointing Rio Olympics as she defeated fellow Indian and rival P.V. Sindhu to win her second Commonwealth Games badminton singles gold on Sunday. It was India's 26th gold medal at the ongoing sporting event while Saina became the first Indian player to clinch two Commonwealth Games singles gold.

In the event, Saina came through the searching examination with flying colours.

A decade older than the Indian, Lee kept his best for the last, showing off the legendary reflexes that have earned him cult status in worldwide badminton, in the deciding third game."I started well but I made too many mistakes in my defence. I am proud of her comeback".

"It is a matter of great pride that forming 25 per cent of the Indian contingent, Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) athletes clinched 40 per cent of the total golds won by India".

The brute force of Sindhu's smashes was something that Saina found hard to deal with. Saina also took a dig at her critics for writing her off after every bad result.

It was a high-risk plan, for, had it backfired, it would have left the Sindhu with far more energy for the decider, if the match were to go the full distance. After that Sindhu started showing subline defence, though she had no answer to Saina's attack. Saina soon jogged to catch up, carrying a large kit bag on her shoulders and a smile. "It was a neck to neck game". From leading the set with 8-5, Sindhu fell behind 11-14 in a jiffy as Saina stormed into the game with some unbelievable shots and footwork. Even though Saina looked to be the more exhausted of the two participants, she hung on bravely. Her match with PV Sindhu was a gruelling one and witnessed some really long rallies.

Saina then narrowed the gap after winning three back to back points. The 28-year-old shuttler Saina's win has catapulted her to the 12th spot as per the Badminton World Federation or BWF as per the Badminton World Federation or BWF ranking.

The doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy bagged a bronze medal after beating Australia's Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville 21-19 21-19 in the third place match. Her legs were dead, she said, after it took 56 minutes, to down her illustrious opponent in straight, albeit tough, games. It is not much of a problem, just two-three days of recovery is required.

In another match or in men's singles world No.1 Srikanth let slip a strong start to lose 19-21 21-14 21-14 to Malaysian icon Lee Chong Wei and by the lost of this match Srikanth slipped to the first position and got an only silver medal which is good too. Thank you for reading the coverage on Commonwealth Games 2018.

Axelsen has been out of action since requiring surgery for a foot injury sustained in the second round of the Indonesian Masters in January this year, but is expected to be back in action next week. A valiant effort by the former World Number 1.